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7/28/2019 feces management usage cologique Sustainable Sanitation P r a c t i c e Eco San Club 22010
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20121
Sustainable Sanitation
P r a c t i c e
Issue 13, 10/2012
Faecal Sludge Management partner of:
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20122
mailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://www.ecosan.at/7/28/2019 feces management usage cologique Sustainable Sanitation P r a c t i c e Eco San Club 22010
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20123
http://www.ecosan.at/ssphttp://www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustriahttp://www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitationPracticemailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://www.ecosan.at/ssphttp://www.waterbiotech.eu/7/28/2019 feces management usage cologique Sustainable Sanitation P r a c t i c e Eco San Club 22010
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20124
Key facts:
The situaon of faecal sludge management in 3 cies in Bangladesh (Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur) has been
analysed
Most households rely on simple pits, VIPs and sepc tanks.
Manual emptying is predominant in all 3 cies.
Only Dhaka has a designated area for disposal of faecal sludge, however, treatment for faecal sludge is providedin none of the cies
In general there is a big lack of faecal sludge management in Bangladesh
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20125
diarrhoeal morbidity by 36 per cent (Carr 2001). A meta-
analysis of 25 studies which invesgated the associaon
between sewerage and diarrhoea or related outcomes,
including presence of intesnal nematodes show that
sewerage systems typically reduce diarrhoea incidence by
about 30 per cent or perhaps as much as 60 per cent when
starng sanitaon condions are very poor (Norman,Pedley and Takkouche 2010). However, as most of the
developing countries are sll struggling to gain universal
sanitaon coverage; they are yet to put adequate
emphasis on this important environmental need. This
paper provides evidence from three cies of Bangladesh
where in an absence of safe emptying, transportaon
and treatment facilies, most faecal sludge re-enters the
environment with full potenal for harming public health.
Sanitaon context in Bangladesh
Sanitaon is sll one of the biggest challenges for
Bangladesh although it has made some good progress in
increasing sanitaon coverage over the past years. A well-
coordinated eort by the government, non-government
development agencies and other development partners as
well as the introducon of the innovave Community-led
Total Sanitaon approaches have made it possible to bring
down the proporon of open defecaon from 43 % in
2003 (SACOSAN 2008) to 4.4 % of the populaon in 2011
(BBS, 2011). Despite this signicant gain, the challenge
sll remains high as about half of the populaon do not
have access to safe sanitaon (BBS and Unicef, 2010). This
report suggests that only about 54 % of the populaon has
access to improved sanitaon facilies which eliminate
the potenal for contact with human faecal maer, largelythrough water seals in toilets. Besides, 25 % and over
15 %t of the populaon has access to shared latrines and
unimproved sanitaon facilies (largely open pit latrines)
respecvely.
Faecal sludge management scenario in Bangladesh
No formal FS management system exits in Bangladesh.
The only treatment plant exists in Dhaka was constructed
in 1980 by DWASA (Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage
Authority) and was upgraded in 1992 has a treang
capacity up to 1.25 million m3 of sewage and has 4 sludge
lagoons for the treatment of sludge produced by theplant. The sewerage network in the city serves the need
of around 20 % of sewage generated in the city (Rahman
2009) and only 1 % of the sludge generated in the country.
This means that 99 % of the sludge generated throughout
the country remains untreated, most of which goes
directly to the surface water.
Emptying in urban and rural areas is overwhelmingly
done by the manual sweepers. Two NGOs in Dhaka and
three other Municipalies provide pit emptying service
through vacu-tug machines. However, their service is
constrained by a number of factors. The manual emptying
is most hazardous as the sweepers usually do not use
anything other than some buckets and a plasc drum for
transport. These manual sweepers do not even use hand
gloves to avoid contact with sludge. In few instances, they
use pump machines to pump out liquids from the sepc
tank or pit and then manually empty the remaining solid
manually. This saves me but the liquid is usually pumped
out to nearby drains, cannels or water-bodies. Thus, the
method is extremely harmful for both the emper andthe environment.
The limited mechanical emptying systems available in
few cies, other than Dhaka, are not ecient enough
and not a popular opon although considering the
market size (described in a later secon), they have
huge potenal. In an absence of a proper dumping site
for faecal sludge and treatment facilies, emptying and
transportaon through this system have only limited
benets. In the end, collected sludge through this system
is dumped into open drains, canal and water-bodies. On
the other hand, the NGO-run emptying service is Dhaka
is environmentally sound since the collected sludge is putinto the sewer lines which then end up in the treatment
plant. However, since a high number of sepc tanks in
Dhaka are connected illegally with the storm sewerage
or other drainage systems, there is not much demand for
the service provided by the NGOs.
The study and the methodology
This study was conducted in three cies in Bangladesh:
Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur, provides analysis of
household level pracces, preferences and aspiraons
of sludge management. Dhaka accommodates morethan one-third of the total urban populaon and about
9 % of the total populaon of the country. Although, the
average income is high in Dhaka, in absolute terms, a
large number of people remain poor. Slums house nearly
one-third of all residents of Dhaka and they connue to
absorb most of the new migrants (Islam 2005). Khulna is
the third largest city in Bangladesh. The populaon of the
city was esmated to be around 1.2 million in 2009 and
populaon density was 21000 per km. In Faridpur a total
of 135,837 people live in an area of 22.39 km. The city
is considered to be a high density city with an esmated
growth rate of over 3.91 per cent annually. About 10 % of
the city dwellers live in slums and squaer selements inthe city.
Data was collected during June to September 2011.
Stascally representave samples were drawn randomly
in Khulna and Faridpur cies. In Dhaka, sepc tanks and
pits in the whole city do not require emptying as they are
either covered by the sewerage networks or connected to
the storm drainage or other drainage systems. Therefore,
sample households were drawn from several pockets
areas mainly in the fringe of the city which require
emptying. A total sample of 467 household for Dhaka, 395
households for Faridpur and 358 households for Khulnawere selected and interviewed using a semi-structured
quesonnaire. In addion, relevant stakeholders were
Faecal sludge management in Bangladesh
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20126
consulted, secondary data were reviewed, pits and
sepc tanks emptying work were shadowed to generate
accurate informaon.
Results and analysis
Latrine technology and usage pracces
In Khulna, most household latrines have sepc tanks and
the number of pits is much less compared to the other
two cies. In Faridpur and Dhaka cies, the distribuon of
sepc tanks, pits and VIPs is almost equal (Figure 1).
Probably because of less land availability, the size of sepc
tanks and pits is smallest in Dhaka compared to the other
two cies. Average size of sepc tank is biggest (19.8 m3)
in Faridpur. The size of the pits is also biggest in Faridpurcompared to the other two cies (Table 1).
Table 1: Average size of sepc tanks and pits (in m3)
Tank type Dhaka Khulna Faridpur
Sepc tank 13.7 14.4 19.8
Pit 2.5 3.1 3.3
Access type of toilet
Households predominantly use personal toilets (Table2). In Khulna, the higher percentage of households use
shared latrines. In some low income housing complexes,
mulple families share a latrine. On the other hand,
community latrines are mainly constructed by the NGOs
in low income selements which are usually used by an
average of 20 families.
Table 2: Access types of toilets (in %)
Access typeCity
Dhaka Faridpur Khulna
Personal 22.9 84.1 62.0
Joint 73.4 15.7 36.9
Community 3.7 0.2 1.1
The average number of households
sharing a latrine is much higher in
Dhaka compared to the other two
cies. Average 7.6 households
share a latrine in Dhaka while
3.4 households share a toilet inFaridpur and 5.7 households per
toilet in Khulna. However, the
average user per sepc tank/pit
is much higher in all the cies;
31.5, 14.8 and 7.2 respecvely in
Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur cies.
The dierence between the user
numbers in latrines and sepc tank/pit is mainly because
in slum selements several toilets share a common
sepc tank/pit.
Emptying methods
In all three cies, manual emptying is the predominant
pracce (Table 3). Compared to the other two cies,
a higher percentage of households use mechanical
emptying in Dhaka parcularly because collected sludge
cannot be dumped randomly in the slum selements in
Dhaka due to community pressure. Thats why people
prefer mechanical emptying so that sludge can be
transported outside the neighbourhood. Mechanical
emptying service is comparavely easily available in
Dhaka being provided by two NGOs that also have other
WaSH programmes in many of the studied slums. In the
other two cies, this frequency is much less. Parcularlyin Khulna, only 2 % of the households empty their pits
or sepc tanks mechanically. There is another opon
whereby empers use pump machines to drain out the
liquid part from the tank rst and then empty the solid
part manually but this is seldom pracced.
Table 3: Methods of emptying (in %)
Method of
emptyingDhaka Khulna Faridpur
Manual 69.4 96.3 86
Mechanical 30.1 2.0 13
Semi-mechanical 0.5 1.7 1
Emptying frequency
In Dhaka, most households emped their tanks or pits
at least once while this is much lower in Faridpur. This
is probably correlated to the size of tanks/pits and
number of users per toilet. Tank and pit sizes were higher
in Faridpur and lower in Dhaka. Again, frequency of
emptying is also higher in Dhaka probably for the same
reason. More than a quarter of the tanks/pits have to be
emped more than once a year in Dhaka (Table 4).
Faecal sludge management in Bangladesh
Figure 1: Latrine technologies
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20127
Faecal sludge management in Bangladesh
Table 4: Frequency of emptying (in %)
Emptying Dhaka Khulna Faridpur
Emped at least once 92.5 83.0 77.0
Never emped 7.5 17.0 23.0
Emptying frequency
2-3 mes / year 26.3 6.8 13.2
Once per year 4.9 0.0 2.6
Once every 2 years 29.3 16.7 23.8
Once every 3 years 15.5 11.9 10.3
Once every 4 years 6.8 11.6 13.2
Between 5 - 10 years 13.6 35.0 26.2
Over 10 years 3.5 18.0 10.6
In choosing a parcular emptying process, most people
consider the ease of availing of the service. For otherpeople, the choice depends on a combinaon of factors,
such as cost, exibility of ming and ease of availing of
the service. All these factors favour manual emptying.
Therefore it is likely that most people use a manual
emptying service (Table 5).
Table 5: Reasons of choosing a parcular type of
emptying
Factors of choice %
Cheap 23.8
Easy to avail 75.0
Flexible ming 10.0
Personally known 6.4
On the other hand, accessing mechanical emptying
services from the municipality in the case of Khulna
and Faridpur cies is quite a lengthy and bureaucrac
process. If someone choses to use the service of a
municipality, he has to go to the municipality to collect
a form, ll and submit it to the appropriate department.
He will then be given a date of inspecon by the
Municipality. It usually takes 2/3 days to get this date.
The purpose of this inspecon is to assess the size of thetank and distance of disposal site to x the rate. Once
the rate is xed, he then has to deposit the money to
get the date of the work. It usually takes about a week
to complete this processing. Most people usually decide
to empty their tank once it is overowing. Therefore,
they cannot wait for so long to use the service of the
municipality. As a result, even though some people
know about the availability of this service they avoid
it. On the other hand, in Dhaka city, most interviewed
households who used manual emptying do not know
about the availability of mechanical emptying services
provided by the NGOs. None the NGOs providing thisservice do any markeng about it.
Emptying fees
Quite naturally, the cost of manual emptying is
comparavely low. As presented in Table 6, mean
cost of manual emptying was US$ 17.1, US$ 14.3 and
US$ 12.6 in Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur respecvely.
Cost of mechanical and manual emptying is almost
same in Dhaka. This is due to the fact that in Dhakathe mechanical service is provided by the non-prot
organisaons at a subsidised rate. The cost of manual
emptying is comparavely high in Dhaka because of
higher transportaon cost. In Khulna and Faridpur
cies, the cost of mechanical emptying is about three
mes higher than the cost of manual emptying. In
these two cies, although the services are provided by
the Municipalies on no-prot basis, the cost for the
households is higher due to corrupon by the emptying
sta.
Table 6: Expense of emptying and transportaon (in
US$)
Methods Dhaka Khulna Faridpur
Manual 17.08 14.33 12.60
Mechanical 17.26 39.52 37.52
Semi-mechanical 5.71 17.14 10.71
Willingness to pay for improved service
It is not very surprising that most people in all three cies
are willing to pay to improve the prevailing situaon of
faecal sludge emptying and disposal services (Table 7).
In terms of money, the amount they could aord to
pay is not very high the average monthly amount a
household could aord to pay is about US$ 1.
Table 7: Willingness to pay for improved service (in %)
Willingness to
payDhaka Khulna Faridpur
Yes 71.3 80.3 71.8
No 28.7 19.7 28.2
Desnaon of sludge
It is a great environmental concern that in most cases,
collected sludge is not managed in an environmentally
safe way. Sludge is released randomly (here and there)
or dumped into open drains or water-bodies which
contaminate surface water. In 18.2 % of the cases in
Faridpur, 30.6 % of the cases in Dhaka and 24.5 % in
Khulna, collected sludge is dumped in a parcular place
which is a designated site to dump solid waste. But in
no cases does this prevent sludge from contaminang
surface water (Figure 2).
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20128
Public awareness
Although collected sludge oen goes into open, most
people stated that they are aware of its negaveconsequences. In Dhaka, more than 60 % of the
respondents expressed their concern that pung
sludge here and there contaminates water, aects
human health and has negave consequences on
environment in general. In the other two cies, although
this percentage is lower compared to Dhaka, there is
certain level of awareness among people about negave
consequences of this act (Table 8).
Table 8: Views about the consequences of sludge
disposal (in %)
Parameters Dhaka Khulna FaridpurContaminate
water60.2 43.5 27.1
Human health 61.0 42.5 29.6
Environment 63.6 47.6 39.1
Demand vs. Supply of service provision
In the absence of any sewerage network or drainage
system, Khulna and Faridpur have relavely larger
markets for emptying and treatment service provision
compared to Dhaka. Dhaka has a sewerage network and
a treatment plant which covers approximately 20 % of
the total sludge generated in the city. Although there is
no study available; however, it is esmated that nearly
70 % pits/sepc tanks in the areas that are not under
sewerage coverage in Dhaka are connected to storm
drainage system or other type of drains. These tanks
and pits do not require any emptying service. As such,
eecve demand for on-site sanitaon is quite low (only
about 10 %, as shown in the table below) compared to
the sludge generaon in Dhaka. On the other hand, as
shown in Table 9, coverage under OSS in Khulna andFaridpur is 98.2 % and 98.5 % respecvely which demand
emptying, safe transpiraon and treatment. Therefore,
it is assumed that both the cies have high demand
of improved and aordable service. This demand is
growing rapidly with the growth of populaon.
Faecal sludge management in Bangladesh
Figure 2: Desnaon of sludge
Table 9: Demand esmaon for on-site sanitaon in 3 cies
Descripon Unit Dhaka Khulna Faridpur
Market size:
Total populaon (in 2011) Number 15,018,594 1,728,760 146,667
Total Household (in 2011) Number 3,337,470 384,169 24,840Producon of Faecal Sludge
Total producon of FS* m3 2,740,893 315,499 26,767
Coverage under sewerage system % 20.0 0.0 0.0
Coverage under drainage % 69.2 0.0 0.0
Open defecaon, hanging, etc. % 0.8 0.8 1.5
Coverage under OSS % 10.0 98.2 98.5
Coverage under OSS m3 541,585 815,276 25,434
Treatment plant coverage
Number of treatment plant Number 1 0 0
Coverage by treatment plant m3 548,179 0 0
Coverage of treatment plant % 20 0 0* 0.5 ltr per person per day including grey water
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Faecal sludge management in Bangladesh
Table 10: Present coverage by dierent categories of service providers
Descripon Dhaka Khulna Faridpur
m3 % m3 % m3 %
Coverage by informal providers
(manual)562,829 99.7 883,384 99.0 90,005 99.8
Coverage by formal providers
(mechanized by NGOs)1,860 0.3 0 0.0 0 0.0
Coverage by ulity department
(mechanized)0 0.0 8,667 1.0 144 0.2
Total 564,689 100.0 892,051 100.0 90,149 100.0
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201210
Faecal sludge management in Bangladesh
Names: Aab Opel
Organisaon: WaterAid
Country: BangladesheMail: [email protected]
mailto:aftab.opel%40wateraidbd.com?subject=mailto:aftab.opel%40wateraidbd.com?subject=http://www.thelancet.com/infectionhttp://www.thelancet.com/infectionhttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/iwachap5.pdfhttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/iwachap5.pdf7/28/2019 feces management usage cologique Sustainable Sanitation P r a c t i c e Eco San Club 22010
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201211
Key facts:
In general, faecal sludge management is Douala and Yaound is poor. Although dump sites for faecal sludge are available in both cies no treatment is provided
Service provides are only very lile organised
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201212
the bargaining power of the operator. Though the prices
are xed according to the volume of the truck, they also
integrate many other aspects.
Materials and methods of invesgaon
This arcle centres on the evaluaon of managing
sewage in the cies of Douala and Yaound. Data
collecon was structured in such a way that the whole
process could be understood from the start to the end
passing through the intermediaries.
Evaluang the organisaon of sewage management in
Douala and Yaounde
The percepon in organising the management of
emped faeces in the two Cameroonian metropolitan
cies has enabled us to present the situaon, interpret
the regulaons in force in the domain and analyse the
ow chart of instuons implicated in the domain so as
to beer understand the respecve roles of the actorsinvolved. In this wise, the dierent actors involved were
idened, their level of implicaon analysed through a
compilaon of their ow charts either at the level of
ministries, urban communies or district councils. This
approach enabled us to beer understand the roles
state actors play.
Simultaneously, emphasis was laid on the idencaon
and analysis of the pracces of private operators who
are professionals in the domain (mechanical scavenger,
sewage intermediaries etc.). They were counted
simultaneously at the discharge sites and staoningparks in the two cies. Furthermore, we analysed the
condions of becoming a scavenger through the arrt
of MINSANTE (i.e. arrt N0003/A/MSP/SESP/SG/DPS
xing condions of opening, exploitaon, renewal,
suspension or withdrawal of accord of a private hygiene/
drainage enterprise for a period of 3 years) and the
accord that is delivered by competent services, the real
authorisaon to engage in the profession is delivered
by the urban council in the case of Douala.
Monitoring sewage tankers and interview of
customers
In the two metropolises sewage tankers were
systemacally idened at their discharge points
(Nomayos in Yaounde and Bois des singes in Douala).
The idencaon exercise was conducted for 3 months
in Yaounde (November 2011 January 2012) but this
period was reduced to 2 weeks in Douala, given the
fact that the Urban Council was already registering the
number of trucks that empty their tanks at the Bois
des Singes site.
The trucks registered were then selected using two
criteria: frequency at the discharge site and the free
and clear consent of the truck driver. In total 7 drivers
out of 17 in Yaounde, being 41.2 % and 7 out 49 truck
drivers in Douala, being 14.3 % accepted to respond to
the enquiries in respect of this study.
Trucks were followed up at the convenience of drivers
placed besides the driver from 6 am to 6 pm (12 hours
for a day) for 8 consecuve days in Douala and 14 in
Yaounde. Mulplying the number of days by two in
Yaounde was due to the low frequency of emptying
fecal material in the city. To this eect we establishedan observaon scale for each truck to ll during the
period of operaon. The me sat at the carbine with
the driver enabled our collaborator to familiarise with
the driver in order to obtain maximum informaon on
the funconing of the management system of emped
faeces and the pracces of the operators.
During this period of the follow up of trucks, all the
customers were interviewed who gave an appraisal on
the manner in which this acvity is carried out, that is
the levies charged, eventual negoaons, the network
of emptying sewage, relaons with scavengers amongst
others. In total 52 customers in Yaounde and 60 inDouala were interviewed.
Sewage quancaon and characterisaon
A combinaon of two methods was applied in quanfying
sewage. These consisted of 1) counng trucks at the
entrance of emptying sites in Yaounde and Douala, and
2) their classicaon according to the volume of the
tanker and household demand for sewage services.
Rapid calculaon led to the esmaon of average
dejecon per inhabitant in the two cies. Considering
populaon projecon from the 2005 naonal census, we
could esmate the weekly producon of sewage in thetwo metropolises.
Characterising on the other hand is a praccal
operaon which consisted of sampling faeces at the
level of households as well as at the level of emptying
sites during the process of emptying. Thirty samples,
amongst which there were 11 at the level of households
and 20 at the emptying sites, were sampled on the spot.
All the bowls of sewage in Douala were condioned
and taken to Yaounde by bus where the contents were
analysed. The laboratory analyses were carried out in
the Department of Botany in the Faculty of Science,University of Yaounde I.
Analysis of the management of emptying sites and their
impacts on the surrounding populaon
A good knowledge on how this acvity funcons led us
to the analysis of the emptying sites in the two cies.
To this eect, transects were realised with exploratory
limits during which photographs were taken to illustrate
some important facts.
An invesgaon was also carried out on the populaon
to determine the extent or poor execuon of emptying
on the inhabitants and the environment. Some 56
households were involved in this exercise in Yaounde
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201213
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
and 27 in Douala within a perimeter of 300 m around the
emptying or decanng site.
Subsequently, focus groups were organised together
with the riverain populaon, council authories of
the two cies and the local services of the Ministry of
Public Health, Environment and protecon of Natureetc. In the case of Douala for example, the convenon of
managing the Bois des Singes site was analysed signed
between HONDAE CIG and the Urban Council (These
two structures are linked by convenon N18/CUD/SG/
DEGCO/2010).
Materials and implementaon
Engaging in this study necessitated the use of materials
such as GPS for precise locaon, use of individual
protecon materials (gloves, helmets, boots and
protecon eye glasses), plasc containers for sampling,
icebox, long ladle, bactericide gel, camera, quesonnaire,
guides with resource persons etc. This hypotheco-
deducve and praccal methods resulng in eld
vericaon led to the achievement of results with a high
degree of accuracy.
Management of sewage in Douala and
Yaound
The collecon and transportaon of sewage
About 18 trucks were idened in Yaound that belong
to 9 enterprises involved in the sewage business. Among
these, 3 trucks are owned by hotels which serve in
emptying their own cesspits and other customers whenneed arise, while 3 others are owned by individuals.
The volumes of these trucks vary between 8 and 16 m3.
Yaound has two parking points for the trucks and these
points are only known by potenal customers who come
there at their convenience to negoate for services and
prices with the drivers. Other customers get to them
through intermediaries.
In Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon, 49 trucks
were idened that are distributed in volumes (Table 1).
The 49 trucks are owned by 16 dierent enterprises (witha maximum of 4 trucks per enterprise). It should be noted
that some district councils in the city also own sewage
trucks (e.g. Douala 1 and 4 district councils). Nine other
truckss are owned by individuals. There are no ocial
parking points for the trucks in Douala but most of them
can be found staoned behind the Guarantee bus stop
in Akwa where they pay no parking fee. The problem of
parking presently put scavengers and the Douala Urban
Council in conict.
The three ways of emptying sewage presented for
Yaound equally applies in Douala. However, manual
emptying here is a lucrave acvity where some people
have specialised in it. These specialists mostly intervene
aer mechanical sucking has taken place in order to
remove solid waste in the pit that cannot be removed
mechanically (sand and other objects).
In Cameroon, the work of a mechanical scavenger is
guided by an accord issued by the Ministry of Public
Health, but in Douala one would noce that out of the 16
enterprises and 9 individuals operang in this business,
only 4 are in possession of the ministerial authorisaon
and 9 funcon with an authorisaon from the Urban
Council. Such a situaon clearly illustrates the lukewarm
atude of local and naonal authories in controlling
the handling of faecal material.
The management of sewage in Douala and Yaound
faces the problem of lack of instuonal and legislavecoordinaon. There is no centre that can actually boost
the development of this acvity but there are centres
whose objecves are to extract as much money as
possible even if nothing is reinvested back in the acvity.
That is why the urban councils, district councils and
state de-concentrated services go out in the eld to
collect taxes from the scavengers. Repeated inspecons
without concertaons with the actors or programming
of their passage in the eld appear as inconvenience
to the scavengers who revolt and are pushed to carry
out clandesne acvies at nearby depressions. To this
eect, the nervous atudes of the controllers whoorganise patrols at the convenience hinder the smooth
funconing of the sewage corporaons in the two cies.
Addionally, legislave texts and the in-adaptaon
of exisng ones hinder beer organisaon of sewage
handling in Douala and Yaound. One should equally
denounce and deplore the exisng texts which expose
scavengers and especially drivers to risks of contracng
diseases. These people handle faeces without wearing
EPI such as gloves, boots, working are, protecve eye
glasses, helmets, scarfs, etc. The texts in force do no
oblige them to respect minimum hygiene condions
or carry out regular medical check-ups. Today the
reformulaon of texts in regards to the treatment of
sewage in Cameroon is imperave which has to be taken
seriously.
Inadequate nancial means is another handicap to the
scavengers. Most of them are owners to their enterprises
and they operate with old trucks that are subjected
to constant breakdowns. During transport of faecal
material, the cover of some sewage tankers remains
Table 1: Distribuon of trucks according to their volume (in m3) in Douala
Volume of truck 4 6 7 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 12
Number of trucks 1 6 1 16 4 4 1 10 6
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Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
village people come to sh. At mes, the tankers emptythe waste on the way to the site.
The Bois des Singes dumping site in Douala
Huge quanes of sewage are actually collected in the
town of Douala, transported and dumped in a place
called Bois des Singes. The collected sewage is dumped
in nature without appropriate treatment, thereby
creang severe public health risk, sight and olfactory
nuisance and contaminang water.
This zone, which is situated within mangroves and close
to the Wouri Estuary, the main river that drains the town
of Douala, is known as the green zone following the
urbanisaon plan of the town. That is, a zone prohibited
for house construcon, although that is not the case
today as people have constructed there and are living
under precarious condions due to interacon pathogens
in the sewage, with neither electricity nor potable water.
Within a radius of 300 m around the site, we found about
26 already inhabited houses and many others under
construcon. This dump site is situated in the south of
the town and unlike Yaounde, this site is found within the
urban space of the town of Douala (gure 3).
Unlike the Nomayos dump site in Yaounde, the Douala
dump site has been carved out and managed by the
Douala Urban Council (DUC) since 2003 (Compeng,
2007) and the site is managed a private body (HONDAECIG) that signed an exploitaon convenon with DUC.
An obligatory ccess fee of FCFA1500/trip is the lone
condion required from those dumping sewage in the
site. Part of this fee (75 %) serves as running cost of the
operator, while 25 % of the royalty is deposited with the
DUC to ensure maintenance of the site and the access
road in theory.
DUC built a ferry-boat for the recepon of sewage, which
suddenly went bad. The sewage is actually dumped
before the ferry-boat and it ows towards the mangrove,
which is situated below the site (gure 4).
Although the volume of sewage dumped in the Bois
des Singes site is twice as much as that in Yaounde, the
revenue generated in this site is too lile (23000 EUR).
Some scavengers refused to pay the fee on grounds that
DUC does not maintain the access road to the site as
spulated in the protocol accord signed with HONDAE
CIG.
The impact of this dump site to the surrounding
populaon is enormous and the rate of squang in the
site by the surrounding populaon is high. In the eld,
we observed that 126 inhabitants had already occupied26 houses within 300 m round the site, while 112 other
houses were under construcon. If nothing is done, the
populaon living around this site will move up to 900 by
the me the rest of the houses under construcon must
have been completed (Figure 5).
All land occupaon in this site is recent in the sense that
the rst households censored in the site were constructed
in 2009. 89 % of household occupants around the site
Figure 3: Locaon of the Douala dump site (in red)
(Berteigne, 2012)
Figure 4: Dumping lorry at the entrance of the ferry and the outlet of the sewage
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armed to have witnessed poor health during the last
two weeks before the passage of the researching team.
Aer enquiry it was observed that the most aected were
women (41 %) and children (27 %). This morbidity rate is
twice as high as that observed in Bessek zone (40 %),
a neighbourhood in Douala IV Council characterised by
spontaneous selement and which is very far away from
the sewage disposal site.
Costs of the service
The prices of draining sewage are relavely high in
Yaound. The average cost (based on 130 responses) is
88000 FCFA (134 EUR) when it is the toilet of an individualthat is to be drained (knowing that the minimum wage is
28500 FCFA). The price increases when the toilet drained
belong to the administraon or enterprises.
It should be underscored that some scavengers were
recent to give this informaon. As earlier said, the
scavengers oen depend on hotel, which are owners
of tanker Lorries and the price for draining the toilets
of these hotels is 20000 FCFA. The average price for
draining a toilet was then calculated aer reducing this
amount. The price for draining a cubic meter of sewage
in Yaound is 17000 FCFA/m3.
Toilet draining prices in Douala are lower, ranging from
15000-40000 FCFA (average 33000 FCFA). These prices
are two to ve mes lower than those charged in
Yaound for several reasons.
The distances between the customers and
the dump site are quite reduced on the
average than in Yaounde, the polical capital,
thereby engendering a logical reducon in fuel
consumpon.
The volumes of sepc tanks in Douala are
generally smaller with reduced depths. Thus, less
fuel is consumed by the sucon pumps.
The state of access route to the disposal point is
beer thereby reducing maintenance cost.
Compeon among scavengers in Douala is
relavely higher (as many as 2.5 mes more tanker
lorries than in Yaounde although the populaons
are almost the same). In eect, some scavengers
pracse price cuts, reducing them to as much as
15000 FCFA per trip.
Dumping fee is only 1500 FCFA with no access tax,
unlike in Yaounde where each tanker lorry pays
50000 FCFA/month.
Average draining price per m3
is 8500 FCFA in Douala,or half of the price charged in Yaound (17000 FCFA). In
Douala there is greater price dispersion around a mean,
which is 35000 FCFA per draining trip. A reconstuon of
exploitaon cost of scavengers based on data got from 7
tanker lorries that responded to the survey instruments
in Douala and Yaound respecvely, showed that average
draining cost in Douala is 28000 FCFA per trip and 55400
FCFA per trip in Yaounde. The net surplus saved in Douala
is only 7300 FCFA as against 33300 FCFA in Yaound.
We can therefore armed that the steep compeon
between operang scavengers in Douala and their poor
organisaon prot households, which benet sewage
draining services at lower costs. This conclusion may
vary slightly in the sense that in Douala, customers need
to request the services of a scraper aer the passage of
the tanker if they want to completely get rid of sand and
other debris that remain in the sepc tank aer draining.
Sewage producon and collecon
A considerable quanty of sewage produced is not
drained
Specic sewage producon as of lower value
quancaon is 0.69 km/inhabitant/day in Douala and
0.74 km/inhabitant/day in Yaound. On the average, thestandard deviaon is higher in Yaound (Table 3).
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
Figure 5: Concrete foundaon (on the le) and an earth-lled one in a valley (on the right)
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201217
Depending on the method of evaluaon used, total
sewage producon in Yaound varies between 1850
and 2300 m3/week. In Douala, this producon varies
between, 2444 and 3432 m3/week (Table 4).
Upper value quancaon in Yaounde indicates thatthere is a consequent deviaon between the potenal
quanty of sewage produced in the town and that
collected and dumped in Nomayos. In Yaounde, only 2/3
of sewage in sepc tanks is drained. This can be explained
by many factors. First of all, eld observaon was done
during the dry season, whereas, all stakeholders in the
sector acknowledge increase of acvity during the rainy
season. In addion, a growth rate of 5 % per year was
aributed to the enre populaon of Yaounde, whereas,
even if this value was to be true, it would hold for the
neighbourhoods at the outskirts of the town and not the
centre and the old neighbourhoods where the populaonis relavely stable.
In Douala, on the contrary, the volumes calculated at the
dump site were coincided with the potenal producon
evaluated using the specic producon method.
Sewage produced mainly by households
Households are the main customers of manual sewage
draining in the two towns: 56 % of the customers in
Yaound and 77 % of those in Douala (Figure 6).
In Yaound, restaurants and hotels represent 17 % ofthe customers or the third highest proporon aer
administraons and households. Administraons
represent close to 25 % of the sewage draining
customers in Yaound. In Douala, on the contrary,
administraons did not feature among the customers
during the me of study. Companies and others such as
restaurant and hotels made up 12 % of the customers.
This observaon is jused by the economic andadministrave funcons of the towns of Douala and
Yaounde respecvely. Following the type of sewage
draining works, the draining of sepc tanks is the most
common in the two towns (Figure 7).
In Yaound, 90 % of sewage draining works are on sepc
tanks, followed by latrines and public toilets at a marginal
proporon (less than 5 %). Sepc tanks are by far the
most drained and this can be explained by the cost of
draining. In eect, it is clear that owners of sepc tanks
are among the well-to-do households, cesspits are oen
a reserve of inhabitants of semi-structured or completelyspontaneous neighbourhoods. This last type of toilets is
oen drained manually or is abandoned by the owners
when they are full. Besides, cesspits in Yaounde are very
deep, and therefore have a life span of more than 15
years. Draining of cesspits in Yaounde is dicult since
many of them are stued with solid non-biodegradable
objects that are aspirated with diculty.
In Douala, on the contrary, besides sepc tanks (77 %),
a proporon of pit latrines (23 %) are drained. These
latrines are not deep and are generally wet due to
risen underground water, all of which facilitate manual
draining. Following the quanty of excrement produced
and the sewage dumped in Nomayos in Yaounde or in
Bois des Singes in Douala, there exist a considerable
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
Table 3: Sewage producon in Yaound and Douala (Berteigne, 2012)
Locality Indicator
Drained
volume
(m3)
Specic sewage
producon
(kg/inhabitant//day)
Number of days
separang two draining
periods
Douala
Mean 7.38 0.69 1451
Standard deviaon 2.34 0.80 1062Maximum 12.25 3.36 200
Minimum 4.11 0.09 2700
Yaound
Mean 7.26 0.74 1885
Standard deviaon 3.73 0.71 2699
Maximum 13.75 1.86 8760
Minimum 2.106 0.04 60
Table 4: Quanty of sewage produced in Yaounde and Douala (m3) (Berteigne, 2012)
Town
Computed quanty at dump
site (m3) Specic producon (m
3
) Request for sewage draining
GrossWith
uncertaintyGross
With
uncertaintyGross
With
uncertainty
Yaound 730 900 1850 1350 2300 1260
Douala 1785 2271 2444 3423
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201218
volume of sewage in the two metropolises that is not
dumped in the cited sites, or which scavengers dump
illegally in depressed zones, thereby increasing polluon
pockets in these towns.
Analysis of the poor funconing of the
sector
Management of sewage by diversied and less
organised actors
In the two cies of Yaounde and Douala, a mulplicity
of actors called scavengers intervene to ensure the
funconing of the sector. They operate as individuals
focusing on the gains to make and expected interests.
First of all, we noce the presence of bosses who are
amateurs that have succeeded to render the trade ofscavengers a protable business from which they can
even feed. These are greedy business people who want
to make a fortune or veracious civil servants who invest in
buying lorry tankers, evading administrave procedures
and recruing drivers who help in running their
enterprise. The name enterprise is just for convenience
as the headquarters is oen the home of the boss who is
interest in the daily returns.
The drivers-owners of the lorry tankers are sole
proprietors of their enterprises. They are at the head
of their own business where they reap their essenalallowances. They are keen about the good funconing of
the sewage management sector and they are aenve
to all informaon emanang from State or municipal
services.
The drivers of the tankers are the nerve centre of the
sewage draining enterprise. They embark on the search
for customers and ensure the transportaon of sewage
up to the dump sites. They serve as a link between the
boss and the customers. They charge and collect draining
money, which they subsequently hand to the bosses.
The motor-boys are the stung asses. These are
labourers who carry out odd tasks such as adjusng
and rinsing the tubes, opening and closing the cesspits,
opening the sluice valves at the dump sites, etc. they
are permanently in contact with the excrement and are
exposed to disease aack. In the course of me they turn
the stool without being irritated and without pung on
individual protecve equipment (IPE). Gloves, protecveglasses, boots and muers seems useless to them; being
in direct contact with excrement without IPE, a motor-boy
gets set to open the sluice valve of a lorry tanker that is
ready to dump sewage at the Bois des singes site in
Douala (Figure 8).
There are intermediaries who go aer allowances. They
enter all corners of neighbourhoods to propose sewage
draining services or use their human relaons to capture
as many customers as possible whom they take to the
dierent drivers following their bargaining power or
dealings. They constute an important link in the lifeof the sewage management sector. Carefully aered
by the drivers, they do not hesitate to pracse higher
bid and at the same me, they make prot from the
customer and the driver who pays him the spend that
was negoated in advance.
The customers captured by scavengers are no other
than owners of houses whose toilets are full. They are
constantly searching for beer services at a cheaper
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
Figure 7: Types of sewage draining works in the two
towns
Figure 6: Distribuon of sewage producers in Douala
and Yaound
Figure 8: Opening a sluice valve of a tanker at Bois dessinges
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201219
price. In Yaounde and Douala, every household has a
potenal sewage draining service provider.
Purported landlords of the dump site, parcularly in
Yaounde, generate substanal income from this acvity
due to the simple fact that they use a piece of vacant
land, which they claim ownership, whereas it is actually
State land. In eect, for each trip, the driver pays a fee of
5000 FCFA in Yaound to dump the sewage collected in
the town, while in Douala, it is 1500 FCFA. The purported
landlords are bent to parcipate in environmental
polluon. Besides the purported landlords, in Yaounde,
the people of the village of Nomayos have organised
themselves to equally benet from the fallouts of the
untreated sewage that is dumped in their village. They
share the dumping fee paid to the Council of Mbankomo
and quite oen do not hesitate to organise strike acons.
Last June, they blocked the site for two weeks, forcing
scavengers aer serious negoaons to increase the fee
to 15000 FCFA/trip.
The municipalies are locally represented by urban
council and the rural councils. Their role is only to sign
authorizaons acknowledging permit to carry out the
acvity when solicited. They also benet from the taxes
paid by scavengers in the sites of Nomayos in Yaounde and
Bois des singes in Douala without carrying maintenance
in return. These local councils parally ensure the parking
of scavengers trucks and the circulaon of these trucks
within the town.
The State assumes just its regulatory role andsporadically regulates the profession of scavengers
by adopng some laws. Through the deconcentrated
services of the Ministries of Environment and Nature
Protecon and of Sustainable Development, it organises
sporadic inspecon missions to the dump sites. These
missions are not backed by any real intenon to have
mastery of the sector, or as a strategy through which the
sewage management sector could be restructured and
organised. No one doubts the fact that growing interest
aached to environmental issues each me, insgates
the government of Cameroon to adopt consequent
legislave texts the following years to re-orientate
development iniaves of the sector geared towards the
treatment of excrement in urban milieu.
It should be underscored that, in the eld, the sewage
management sector is characterised essenally by the
absence of synergy between the stakeholders. In eect,
urban and rural councils at the periphery act in disperse
ranks, in isolated manner and do not have concerted
intervenons. Under such circumstances they phase
out in the eld, undermining the eecveness of their
acons.This is the same situaon with State specialised
services.
Corporave organisaons that scavengers haveaempted to form up to now, be it in Yaounde or
Douala, have been weakened by internal squabbles
and the lack of will power of the members. Due to the
weakened nature of these bodies, they have never been
represented at the level of the administraon or the
promoters of sewage draining sociees.
A sector characterised by muldimensional problems
Subopmal organisaon of sewage management in thetowns of Yaounde and Douala allows for the emergence
of side problems, which hinder locally, the development
of this acvity. From the analysis, some of them are of
interest.
The sewage management sector in the two towns is
characterised essenally by poor organisaon of the
sector due to laxity of the managing authories of these
agglomeraons. In fact, there exists no structures that
co-ordinate the acvies of scavengers. Consequently,
only few of them full the required administrave
formalies. In Douala, for instance, only four enterprises
have obtained approbaons from MINSANTE, which
allow them to operate legally. In Yaound, no sewage
draining enterprise has been approbated. At moment,
it suces to acquire a lorry tanker to go about the trade
with all ease in the two big cies of the country. Thus, it
is understood that the sewage management sector is not
regulated by the competent authories.
The diculty in managing sewage in the two metropolises
of Cameroon engenders anarchy in the prices paid to
scavengers, problems of managing dump sites in Yaounde
and Douala and insgates intenonal dumping of faeces
in depression zones. Following inability of the State tomanage sewage adequately, the current dump sites are
real microbial breeding grounds and these microbes
spread the pollung maer to the immediate and even
far o environment.
The poor organisaon extends to the scavengers who
evolved in isolated or dispersed ranks. As such, they are
powerless and cannot withstand the pressure from their
bosses, police harassment, cheang atude of customers
and bole necks of State agents.
In addion to these organisaonal problems, are notnegligible nancial problems. To start sewage draining
business, it requires that a promoter invests heavily in the
buying of a lorry tanker; acquire administrave documents
such as insurance, technical inspecon, packing permit
etc. Quite oen, the promoter is forced to resort to loans
either from banks, thri and loans or various relaons.
Datelines for repayment are always moments of agony
to the promoter. The amounts gathered, however, are
oen enough to buy only second-handed lorry tankers of
more than 20 years, which oen witnessed break downs
thereby making it dicult to respect the terms of the
agreements contracted when the credits were got.
Amateurism of the promoters of sewage drainingcorporaons is a torn in their esh. Quite oen, they are
less prepared to manage an enterprise and as such do
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
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not have a viable business plan with confusion seng
in between managing their personal revenue and that
of the enterprise. This atude is jused by the many
interrupons of acvies observed every year or the
non-payment of driver due to lack of liquidity.
In addion to the aforemenoned issues, we can include
the inability to manage the access roads to the sites, an
issue that hinders appropriate dumping of sewage Access
to the Nomayos dump site is almost impraccable due to
permanent presence of pools of water (Figure 9).
Aempted soluons to ameliorate sewage
management in urban milieu of Cameroon
The daily management of sewage in Yaounde and Douala,
characterised by laissez-faire, is not adequate to ensure
sustainability of the acvity despite its importance in
the regulaon of urban life. Counter acons ought to be
taken in order to ameliorate the current situaon.
As a maer of urgency, the State and the two urban
councils need to concert in order to idenfy the main
problems plaguing the sector and manage them following
the required norms and to secure appropriate dump
sites for these two metropolises. This acon will lead tothe build up of a large treatment system that will serve
for the recepon of faeces and to the pung in place of
a mechanism for treang the sewage before disposing it
into nature, as well as managing the access road. These
basic issues, undoubtedly call for a beer handling of
the sector through reinforcement of legislaon, the
pung in place of modalies to protect scavengers who
are in permanent contact with the pollutants, and the
organisaon of the profession of the scavengers.
Such intervenon from the State will surely lead to a
beer internal organisaon of the scavengers of each
town into a corporaon. In the past, aempts to bringscavengers into an associaon were not brought to
fruion. The iniators of the project lacked the required
charisma and wanted to safeguard their immediate
interest as individuals. Scavengers in the two towns
today are expressing that wish to come together in order
to defend their common interest, uphold the principle
of equity in the treatment of customers by all exploiters
or operators in the sector, and ensure the protecon of
use rights in terms of taris pracsed and to oer quality
services. Condions for taking this measure are provided
for by law n90/053 of 10 December 1990 where it allows
for liberty of associaon in Cameroon.
One of the major problems in the management of
sewage is access to funding, which is very necessary in
the running of the enterprise when the lorry tankershave serious break downs. This oen causes the tankers
to be down for long aecng the bosses as well as the
employed sta. We can envisage a mechanism through
which a relaonship is created between banking
instuons and scavengers where loans are granted and
guaranteed by the State under certain condions.
Conclusion
Human selements produce excreta that is either
disposed in nature or stocked in cesspits. This human
waste is repugnant since it is known to be highly pollung
and is the cause of many infecons. It can lead to serious
illness if poorly handled. This is eecvely what is
happening in the towns of Yaounde and Douala. In these
two agglomeraons, excrement that collects in various
cesspits, is at mes drained by professionals and dumped
in sites that are not maintained at urban periphery. This
poor disposal constutes a danger to the surrounding
populaons who inhale the pungent odour, use the
sewage as manure in their farms or come in contact with
it while carrying out their daily chores without foreseeing
the consequences that can ensue.
The scavengers themselves are no longer inure to theexcrement. Due to repeated manipulaon of the sewage,
they become accustom to it and easily accommodate the
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
Figure 9: Access route to the dump site of Nomayos in Yaound
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201221
situaon. They rarely make use of IPE and this exposes
them to many infecons, some of which are incurable.
The management of sewage requires the intervenon
of the State and the municipalies, not only to collect
taxes, which are oen poorly used, but aer all, to create
enabling condions for the dumping of sewage in well
maintained sites. In this regard, those managing urban
aairs ought to:
put in place realisc and praccal modalies for
draining and dumping of sewage in urban milieu;
favour the grouping of scavengers into associaons
for the defence of their interest;
put in place a concertaon plate-form between
the local stakeholders of the sewage management
sector in urban milieu; and favour intensive
communicaonal acons;
maintain the dump sites following the norms
regulang waste disposal at the peripheries of thetwo big towns;
regulate the contract between customers and
the scavengers by pasng the accepted prices in
public places; and
adequately treat sewage before dumping it into
nature.
An adage says that sanitaon is the dignity of man!
Despite its established importance, this burning issue
does not seem to be currently preoccupying to authories
managing urban aairs in Cameroon.
References
Berteigne, B. (2012): Quancaon et caractrisaon des boues de
vidange issues de Douala et Yaound (Cameroun) et proposions de
traitement. Mmoire daprs Csure, ENGEES. Septembre 2012. 112
pages [in French].
Compeng Bet. (2007) : Etudes traitement des boues vidanges avec
producon dlectricit Ngomb, Douala. Rapport de bureau
dtude, 257p [in French].
Name:Benot Mougou
Organisaon: Department of Geography,
University of Yaound 1
Town, Country: Yaound, Cameroon
Name: Emmanuel Ngnikam
Organisaon: Naonal Polytechnic Higher
School in Yaound
Town, Country: Yaound, Cameroon
Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon
Name: Adrien Wanko
Organisaon: ENGEES
Town, Country: Strasbourg, France
eMail: [email protected]
Name: Roger Feumba
Organisaon: ENGEES
Town, Country: Strasbourg, France
Name: Issidor Noumba
Organisaon: Faculty of Economy, University of
Yaound 2
Town, Country: Yaound, Cameroon
mailto:awanko%40engees.u-strasbg.fr?subject=mailto:awanko%40engees.u-strasbg.fr?subject=7/28/2019 feces management usage cologique Sustainable Sanitation P r a c t i c e Eco San Club 22010
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201222
Key facts:
Three years of collaboraon between ONEA and Eawag/Sandec to assist the planning process for faecal sludge
treatment plants in Ouagadougou
Need for an increased communicaon among the local stakeholders to allow an opmized management scheme
for the faecal sludge
Need for an increased recognion of faecal sludge collecon and transport operators by the ocial stakeholders
and the populaon in order to ensure the sustainability of the management chain
Design of several ocial documents (partnership agreement, decree, license, ) regulang the collecon andtransport of faecal sludge to ensure its discharge at the treatment plants in environmentally acceptable condions,
and the coordinaon of the local stakeholders.
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201223
The current sanitaon policy in Burkina Faso comprises
four main components that unfortunately do not dene
the responsibilies and quality standards for the FS
supply chain, or their enforcement (Bassan et al., 2012):
The code of environment requires everyone to
dispose of urban waste properly (Assemble desdputs du peuple du Burkina Faso 1997).
The decree regulang urban waste storage,
collecon, transport, treatment, and disposal,
requires FS to be transported to treatment or
discharge sites in special vehicles.
The discharge standards set limits for pollutants
release into the air, water and soil.
The code of public hygiene appoints local
authories to manage urban waste and provide
sanitaon services.
The analysis revealed that the collecon and transport
operators require strong recognion at the instuonal
level, as well as capacity strengthening. This is a
crucial condion to ensure the sustainability of the
FS management chain. Indeed, they face dicules
in disposing of the large quanes of FS produced in
Ouagadougou due to the long distances to illegal discharge
areas and harassment by police and the populaon.
They are not involved in urban planning programmes,
do not benet from government assistance, have poor
business management skills, and oen operate in poor
hygiene condions. On account of nancial dicules,
only 60 % of the FS collecon and transport operatorssurveyed in 2007 were sll acve in 2010. Thus, focus
should be placed on strengthening the organisaon of
these stakeholders.
Instuonal development and capacity
strengthening
The crucial informaon obtained during visits,
interviews, workshops and informal meengs allowed
the organisaon of a consultaon plaorm to dene
an opmized management system for FS. The followingocial dra policies and documents were developed:
1. A decree on FS collecon and transport in
Ouagadougou regulang:
Type of FS and obligaon to discharge in
authorised sites.
Provision of an ocial address by the collecon
and transport operators, registraon of
informaon related to their acvies and payment
of discharge fees at FS treatment plants.
Safety equipment and health measures required.
Right of collecon and transport operators toestablish their service price.
2. A municipal license authorising the collecon and
transport operators who adhere to the above decree
to deliver their services for a period of three years.
3. A partnership agreement between ONEA and the
municipality dening their responsibilies in terms of
awareness raising among the populaon, establishing
discharge and treatment sites, enforcing a regulatory
framework and assisng the collecon and transport
operators (Figure 2).
The consultaon acvies of the collecon and transport
operators conducted from June 2010 to 2012 allowed
to improve their recognion by the other stakeholders.
Several informaon workshops were also held to
discuss their dicules and develop soluons. Their
professional associaon was thus reorganized, and
Faecal sludge management in Burkina Faso
Figure 1: The collecon and transport operators oen lack of management skills, safety measures, and operate in
poor hygiene condions (photo: T. Tchonda)
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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/201224
Faecal sludge management in Burkina Faso
guidelines developed to provide informaon about
on-site sanitaon, safety, hygiene pracces, and nancial
management of the collecon and transport companies.
This document was used as a basis for a training held to
strengthen their management pracces, improve theircapacity to communicate with customers, and iniate
associave acvies.
Conclusion
The uninterrupted flow of communication throughout
project implementation has created a very strong
collaborative exchange and trusting environment
between ONEA and Sandec. The participative process
has also allowed the official involvement of the
collection and transport operators, who are often
not considered in urban planning, and provided
other stakeholders insight into their difficulties andweaknesses. The exchange between the authorities,
sanitation experts and collection and transport
operators is crucial as it improves the quality standard
of these services in terms of hygiene, safety and
environmental protection. Both the participative
process and the resulting documents may readily be
adapted to other cities and countries and contribute
to adequate and appropriate FS management.
References
Assemble des dputs du peuple du Burkina Faso (1997). Code de
lenvironnement au Burkina Faso. 005/97/ADP, Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso [in French].
Bassan, M., Tchonda, T., et al. (2012). Processus dlaboraon dun
cadre instuonnel rgulant lacvit de vidange mcanique dela ville de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. African Water Associaon.
Congrs internaonal de lAssociaon Africaine de lEau. 20-23
February 2012, Marrakech, Morroco [in French]..
Koanda, H., Bassan M., Mbgur, M. (2010). Rapport danalyse
instuonnelle de la geson des boues de vidange dans la ville de
Ouagadougou. Eawag, Dbendorf, Switerland [in French].
Pyry (2010). Service de Consultants pour les tudes dtailles
dexcuon, llaboraon des dossiers dappel dores, la supervision
et le contrle des travaux dassainissement collecf de la ville de
Ouagadougou - Avant Projet Dtaille (APD) - Construcon des deux
staons de traitement des boues de vidange. Ouagadougou, Burkina
Faso [in French].
Figure 2: Stakeholders responsibilies (boxes) and their relaonships (arrows).
Name: Magalie Bassan
Organisaon: Eawag (Swiss Federal Instute
of Aquac Science & Technology), Sandec
(Department of Water & Sanitaon in
Developing Countries)
Town, Country: Zurich, Switzerland
eMail: [email protected]
Name: Tetouehaki Tchonda
Organisaon: Eawag; Sandec
Town, Country: Zurich, Switzerland
Name: Mbaye Mbgur
Organisaon: Eawag; Sandec
Town, Country: Zurich, Switzerland
Name: Linda Strande
Organisaon: Eawag; Sandec
Town, Country: Zurich, Switzerland
http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/7/28/2019 feces management usage cologique Sustainable Sanitation P r a c t i c e Eco San Club 22010
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Key facts:
The LaDePa (Latrine Dehydraon and Pasteurisaon) machine produces hygienically safe organic ferlizer from
faecal sludge at low costs.
It is shown that LaDePa technology is nancially feasible when treang more than 2000 tons faecal sludge a year.
A contractual model between eThekwini municipality and service providers for servicing areas using VIPs is
proposed
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Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa
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Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa
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Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa
Figure 1 Diagrammac view of the LaDePa machine process
Figure 2 The LaDePa machine assembled in a
container.
Figure 3 The LaDePa machine inside the container.
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Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa
Figure 4 Pasteurised maer before drying.
Figure 5 Final product - organic ferlizer from faecalsludge.
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Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa
Municipality
Homeowner
Technology
Contractor
Managing
Contractor
Farmer
VIP
Emptying
Subcontractor
TacitService
Sludge
Sales
VIPEmptying
Technology Contract
Main
tenanc
e
Ope
ration
FertiliserSales
Service
Payment
Service
Charge?
Legend
ManagementContract
Contract
Figure 6 Contractual Relaonships
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Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa
Table 1: Cost benet analysis
Disposal cost savings
2000 tons at R1012 /ton R 2 259 000Less 20 % detritus R 404 800
Income due to sale of product
Input = 1600 cu m at 20 % solids = 320 cu m solids
Output = 320 cu m at 80 % solids = 400 cu m (ton) product
Income = 400 cu m at R 500 / cu m R 200 000
Total Income and Savings R 2 054 000
Addional Operang Costs (Annual)
Forman at R 10 000 per month R 120 000
Labour 4 No. at R 135/day at 260 work days /annum R 140 000
Diesel at 12 l/hr at 8 hrs/d at 260 work days/annum at R10/l R 250 000
Pickup Truck at R 450 / day at 260 days R 117 000
Total Addional Operang Cost R 627 000
LaDePa Annual Cost
Annualised establishment cost R 500 000
Maintenance and Royalty R 600 000
Total Annualised LaDePa Costs R 1 100 000NETT FINANCIAL BENEFIT R 327 000
Conversion rate: 10 R (Rand) ~ 1 Euro
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Name: John Harrison
Organisaon: eThekwini Water and Sanitaon
Town, Country: Durban, South Africa
eMail:[email protected]
Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa
Name: Dave Wilson
Organisaon: eThekwini Water and Sanitaon
Town, Country: Durban, South Africa
eMail: [email protected]
mailto:johnha%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=mailto:davewi%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=mailto:davewi%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=mailto:johnha%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=7/28/2019 feces management usage cologique Sustainable Sanitation P r a c t i c e Eco San Club 22010
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Next issue:
Issue 14, January 2013: Selected contribuons from the 1st WATERBIOTECH
conference, 9-11 Oct 2012, Cairo, Egypt
Further informaon:
www.ecosan.at/ssp
Contact:
www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitaonPracce
www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustria
http://www.ecosan.at/sspmailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitationPracticehttp://www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustriahttp://www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustriahttp://www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitationPracticemailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://-/?-http://www.ecosan.at/ssp